Tennessee state House condemns University of Tennessee's 'Sex Week'

Tennessee state House condemns University of Tennessee's 'Sex Week'

Rep. Richard Floyd, R-Chattanooga, reads documents during a House floor session In Nashville on Thursday. The chamber later passed a bill to allow local governments to hold referendums on allowing supermarkets and convenience stores to sell wine. Floyd was among the members voting against the bill.

Rep. Richard Floyd, R-Chattanooga, reads documents during a...

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Associated Press
/Times Free Press.

NASHVILLE - Following a spirited debate about the First Amendment, the state House on Monday approved a nonbinding resolution condemning "Sex Week" festivities at the University of Tennessee's Knoxville campus.

"I support First Amendment rights," said Rep. Richard Floyd, R-Chattanooga, the measure's sponsor. "You don't have a right to drag the UTK brand" and its graduates, students and others "through the mud."

The resolution passed on a 69-17 vote. The resolution now moves to the Senate.

Sex Week, which begins Sunday, is student-led and includes events ranging from an aphrodisiac cooking class to sexual assault prevention and a drag show.

Floyd and other Republicans charged the event sets a bad tone, a furor that began last year when the campus held it's first Sex Week.

But Rep. Joe Armstrong, D-Knoxville, whose district includes the UT campus, said he thinks its the critics who are "setting a bad precedent. If we support our Constitution, I truly believe the intent of this resolution goes against our First Amendment rights."

While organizers of Sex Week, which is funded through student fees after UT leaders dropped state tax support following last year's flap, say the event is intended to educate students, some lawmakers objected to the messages being sent to students.

"I'm going to send my 17-year-old daughter up there next year," Majority Leader Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, said. "What kind of people [who] are up there are doing this stuff?"

Defenders of the students said they're adults.

"I represent the University of Tennessee, and I've had numerous students that object to the intervention of the legislature in their campus disputes," Armstrong said.

But Republicans said parents are the ones who are paying for the program through the student activity fees many of them pay.